Top news: Chidambaram gets bail in INX Media case from Supreme Court after over 3 months in custody

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Congress leader P Chidambaram in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s charges filed in the INX Media case. The 74-year-old politician had been in custody since August 21 – first with the Central Bureau of Investigation and then with the Enforcement Directorate since October 17. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case on October 22.

The controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill has been cleared by the Cabinet, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday. The government is likely to table the Bill in in Parliament the next two days. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend a 1955 law to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from the Muslim-majority nations of Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan if they have lived in India for six years.

Civicus Monitor, an international alliance of civil society organisations, has downgraded India’s civic space rating from “obstructed” to “repressed” in its new People Power Under Attack report for 2019, citing its extreme concern about the crackdown on human rights activists, attacks on journalists and civil society groups, and the lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir.

At least 18 Indians may have been killed in a liquefied petroleum gas tanker blast at a ceramic factory in Sudan, the Indian embassy at Khartoum said on Wednesday. The incident occurred on Tuesday at the Seela Ceramic Factory in Bahri area of the national capital Khartoum.

The personal data of at least 20 WhatsApp users was accessed in the Pegasus spyware attack, the government told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Facebook-owned messaging platform has said journalists, human rights activists and scholars were among those spied upon by unnamed entities that used the spyware developed by an Israeli company.

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday approved the setting up of a fast-track court to hear the case of murder and alleged gang rape of a 27-year-old Hyderabad veterinarian. It will be set up at Mahabubnagar District Court.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to extend the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for 10 years. With the quota set to expire on January 25, 2020, the government looks set to bring a Bill in the ongoing winter session of Parliament to extend the quota by 10 years.

A court in Uttar Pradesh has granted bail to the man accused of helping those who allegedly murdered Hindu Samaj Party leader Kamlesh Tiwari in October. The Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court allowed bail to Kaifi Ali Rizvi, a cleric based in Uttar Pradesh’s city of Bareilly, on two personal bonds of Rs 20,000 each. The lawyer, representing Rizvi, contended that the accusations against his client were bailable.

The police in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday said four men, including a Central Reserve Police Force soldier, have been arrested for allegedly abducting and gangraping a 15-year-old girl in Mirzapur district.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear women’s rights activist Bindu Ammini’s plea seeking directions to Kerala government to ensure safe passage of all women to the Sabarimala temple, regardless of their age or religion.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which proposes a framework for handling of private data by public and private entities. The proposed legislation will be introduced in Parliament in the ongoing Winter Session, said Union minister Prakash Javadekar.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said that the trial in the Unnao rape case had not yet been completed despite an initial 45-day deadline given by the Supreme Court in August. Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and a former Bharatiya Janata Party leader, is the main accused in the case.

Union Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh on Wednesday spoke about reports that a Chinese vessel was forced to retreat after it entered India’s Exclusive Economic Zone near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He assured MPs that the Army is intent on defending our borders, adding that India and China have differences in perception of borders.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend a 1955 law to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from the Muslim-majority nations of Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan if they have lived in India for six years.

Five Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel were killed and two injured in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday after one of the jawans allegedly fired at his colleagues with his service weapon, reported PTI. Later, the jawan who opened fire shot himself too.

The reason for the dispute is yet to be ascertained. It is suspected that the soldier was upset for not getting leave, reported NDTV.

P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram on Wednesday morning heaved a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court granted bail to his father in the INX Media case. “Phew. At last after 106 days,” tweeted Karti Chidambaram. The Congress too hailed the Supreme Court’s order. “Truth finally prevails,” said the party.

The 74-year-old former finance minister has been in custody since August 21 – first with the Central Bureau of Investigation and then with the Enforcement Directorate since October 17. He has been in Delhi’s Tihar jail since September 5.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the Centre’s response to a plea seeking action against media houses for revealing the identity of the woman in the Telangana murder and alleged rape case, reported Live Law. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notices to the Centre, the governments of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, as well as some media houses and social networking platforms.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Congress leader P Chidambaram in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s charges filed in the INX Media case, Live Law reported. The former Union minister had moved the top court after the Delhi High Court had rejected his bail plea on November 15.

The 74-year-old politician had been in custody since August 21 – first with the Central Bureau of Investigation and then with the Enforcement Directorate since October 17. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case on October 22.

The Goods and Services Tax Council has expressed concern about the Centre’s ability to meet the compensation needs of states due to lower tax collections in recent months, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. Ahead of its meeting on December 18, the council wrote a letter to states, seeking suggestions to deal with the situation.

The GST Act promises states enough compensation from the Centre to keep their annual revenue growth 14% for five years despite any likely loss due to the implementation of the indirect tax regime.

A delegation of the Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to demand that the new state government withdraws cases against all Dalit protesters in connection with the violence at Bhima Koregaon in January 2018, reported The Times of India. The NCP is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government led by Thackeray.

Bora, who is a minister in the Sarbananda Sonowal-led Assam Cabinet, said it was time to move ahead with reality.Bora said the passage of the Bill was almost inevitable. “If it [BJP] wants to fulfil its national agenda, it will be done,” he said, according to The Telegraph. He suggested that people of Assam should rather use it as an opportunity to “bargain better” with the Centre to get more Constitutional safeguards.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that no ongoing infrastructure project was stopped in the state and only the construction of the metro car shed in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony was halted, PTI reported. The announcement came days after he passed an order to stop work in the construction of the metro car shed project.

Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that he was aware that his nephew Ajit Pawar was in contact with Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis when negotiations between the NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress were under way to form government in Maharashtra. But, he told NDTV, he did not think Ajit Pawar would rebel.

The NCP chief said that Ajit Pawar may have decided to rebel after a “heated discussion” with Congress leaders on November 22.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday met the families of the 17 people who died after a 20-foot-high compound wall fell due to heavy rain on three houses in Nadur village in Coimbatore the previous day, PTI reported. The chief minister’s visit came a day after protesting locals alleged that the wall was built to keep away Dalits in the locality.

The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019, amid a walkout by the Congress MPs. The Lok Sabha had already passed the bill on November 27.

The amendments will provide security to the prime minister and members of his immediate family who stay with him at the official residence. This security cover will also be provided to former prime ministers and their immediate families, residing at the official residence, for a period of five years from the date on which the prime minister ceases to hold the office.